The Houston Rockets have emphasized dunks and 3-pointers in becoming one of the NBA’s most efficient offenses but Paul’s in-between jumpers proved to be the difference when the long-range shots weren’t falling.
"I wasn’t joking about that," Paul said of his layup comment. "If (Rudy) Gobert’s going to back, that’s what I’m going to shoot."
Paul had 27 points and 12 rebounds while James Harden scored 24 points to power the Houston Rockets to a 100-87 win over the Utah Jazz on Sunday night, taking a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series.
"It showed a lot of grit for us to come in here and win two games," Paul said.
Donovan Mitchell scored 25 before fouling out and Joe Ingles had 15 for the Jazz.
Mitchell started finding lanes to the basket late and got the Jazz within 85-80 after he fueled a 10-2 run, sending the crowd into a frenzy. But Paul, who matched his scoring high for this playoff run, hit a pull-up jumper and found Trevor Ariza for a 3-pointer to put the Rockets back up by double digits and they never looked back.
"Houston is that good. Give them credit. They know how to control a game," Snyder said. "In spite of that, I thought we just hung in there and took shots and kept coming and kept coming and eventually couldn’t get over the hill."
"Houston is that good. Give them credit. They know how to control a game," Snyder said. "In spite of that, I thought we just hung in there and took shots and kept coming and kept coming and eventually couldn’t get over the hill."
The Rockets went to Salt Lake City with people wondering whether this might be the latest example of them letting a season get away from them prematurely.
They leave Salt Lake City within one victory of a trip to the Western Conference finals after a pair of impressive victories.
